More Currently, In Our Adoption Journey

As promised, here is another installment of the journey we are on to adopt a daughter from China. Each segment of our story feels so intimate and at the same time, so universal. At any given time, I have found myself sharing bits and pieces of our story, only to have sometimes complete strangers say, "Oh, my sister adopted from Russia and they waited forever also," or "Wow, my boss and his wife adopted from China, and I had no idea all that they went through." I feel as if the Lord has already used our journey to encourage others. And I'm so blessed to say that He has certainly used others' stories to gird us up and give us strength for our process.

As the story becomes increasingly current in the telling here, there are changes and things working in my heart about it and about my personal journey every day. Sometimes, I wonder what I was thinking when I asked the Lord to use this experience to change and mold me. Sometimes, it feels un-ending and too hard to persevere through. But on just such a day, the Lord allows my path to cross with one of those with a great story. And I marvel. So I'm continuing to share these snippets in as chronological an order as I can, but please know that all of it is "here and now" for me and I'm often processing as I write!

In April 2006, we contracted to begin our adoption journey through Living Hope Adoption Agency. It is founded by Samuel Fang, a former Chinese citizen who is deeply committed to bringing together “forever families” through the mission of his agency. (He has an amazing testimony of his own and clearly is anointed by the Lord for the work to which he has set his hands.) We are currently in the “waiting stage” of our adoption, having been approved first by our agency, then by the U.S. federal government. Our dossier (family file of information, like a portfolio) is in the “review stage,” waiting “in queue” at the China Center of Adoption Affairs (CCAA). It’s a long process, and often the wait really wears us down. But the Lord has given us several tangible encouragements along the journey, including a “life verse” and a name for our new daughter. She will be called Aidan Hope, and the verse that we believe we are called to pray over her & her future is Psalm 71: 5 & 6 “For you have been my HOPE, O Sovereign Lord, my confidence since my youth. From birth I have relied on you, you brought me forth from my mother’s womb. I will ever praise you.” Aidan means “little fiery one” in old Gaelic, and with everything that she will have to endure to get to us, we believe God for a fiery little fighter spirit to rise up in her!

Coming installments of this story will be in the form of questions that people have been asking of us quite frequently in recent months. If you have questions as you read this, please feel free to ask them. I'd love to answer as best I know, and research the answers to those I don't know! Soon, I will also post a summary of the steps of the whole dossier approval process, to make more clear some of the things you have read and will read in future posting.

Thank you again, for coming back to hear more of our story!